Dr. Martinez cares for patients with liver disease and addiction disorders, including opiate dependency, viral hepatitis, alcoholic and fatty liver disease, at Erie County Medical Center where he is the medical director of hepatology. His clinic “La Bodega” has been recognized both nationally and internationally as a novel co-localized model for the management of viral hepatitis and addiction disorders and has been awarded a New York State World AIDS Day Commissioner’s Special Recognition Award. The clinic has also been designated as a center for drug user health in New York State. Dr. Martinez has lectured around the world on Hepatitis C management among people with substance use disorders, most recently at the International Hepatology Exchange in Amsterdam. His team’s work has been presented at the annual liver meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver; the annual conference of the International Network On Viral Hepatitis in Substance Users and at the International Liver Congress.

His research involves improving hepatitis C treatment in populations disproportionately affected by HCV but with limited access to health care as well as developing novel modalities to deliver care. The goal of his research is to expand HCV treatment services to a wide-ranging group of patients, especially those without immediate access to care, in an effort to reduce global disease burden. He has been a primary and co-investigator on numerous clinical trials related to new therapeutic agents for hepatitis C and fatty liver disease.

Martinez is committed to training the next generation of medical providers and has mentored medical students, residents and fellows throughout their training. He has led the New York State hepatitis C mini residency program to aid in the clinical development of emerging hepatitis C providers in order to decentralize the management of hepatitis c in an effort to extend treatment to those who need it most.

A fierce advocate, he has worked to eliminate hepatitis C treatment restrictions throughout the United States and in Europe.

Dr. Martinez is a fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease where he was recently elected to the HCV special interest group steering committee, the European Association for the Study of The Liver and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Addictions, Gastroenterology, HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Illicit Drugs, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, Liver (Hepatology), Substance Use, Substance Use Disorder, Translational Research

Adults, Seniors/Elderly

Intermediate Spanish

Physician Gender:

Male